Hotel-casino magnate SHELDON ADELSON, the "major force behind Nevada legislation in 2016 that helped build" the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, has died at 87 years old, according to Alan Snel of LVSPORTSBIZ.com. Nevada Gov. STEVE SISOLAK said, "Sheldon led the charge to bring the NFL to Las Vegas, and largely through his determination and leadership, we are now the home of the Las Vegas Raiders." A year ago, in January '20, Raiders President MARC BADAIN said, "We wouldn’t be here without Sheldon.” Snel notes Adelson’s "political clout, financial contributions and consultants influenced the Nevada Legislature in 2016 to approve the bill that said Southern Nevada would contribute $750 million to a Raiders football stadium that would cost $1.4 billion to construct." Adelson was also a "major supporter" of PRESIDENT TRUMP, "contributing tens of millions of dollars" (LVSPORTSBIZ.com, 1/12).
CHANGE COMING? CNBC’s Contessa Brewer said this is “really an end of an era because Sheldon Adelson was the last of the casino moguls on the Las Vegas strip.” Brewer: “His legacy: profound. Every market he touched he changed.” With his passing, there is speculation as to whether Adelson's Las Vegas Sands would be “breaking into sports gambling.” Brewer notes Adelson was a “very staunch opponent of Internet gambling, spent a lot of money trying to fight it, and we may see some departure on that because right now all the businesses that Las Vegas Sands engages in -- these integrated resorts --have all been shutdown in the pandemic, where with Internet gambling, of course, that could stay up and running even if their physicals casinos are locked down” (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 1/12).
